Domaine d'Auvenay Bourgogne Aligoté "Sous Chatelet" 2011 750ml

Lalou Bize-Leroy's personal micro-estate. Aligoté at the highest level of seriousness in Burgundy.

Domaine d'Auvenay is the personal property of Lalou Bize-Leroy — co-founder of Domaine Leroy, former co-owner of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, and arguably the single most influential figure in modern Burgundy. d'Auvenay sits in Saint-Romain on the upper hillside of the Côte de Beaune, and Lalou farms its tiny holdings biodynamically with the same fanatical attention she brings to her grand cru work.

The Bourgogne Aligoté "Sous Chatelet" is officially the entry tier of the d'Auvenay range. In practice, it sells worldwide for prices that put it in the company of the Côte de Beaune's most celebrated white Grand Crus — because Lalou applies the same low yields, the same wild yeasts, the same patient barrel élevage to her Aligoté as she does to a Meursault Premier Cru. The wine is dense, mineral, structured for long ageing, and exists primarily because Lalou refuses to compromise on any cuvée under her name.

Production is microscopic. Allocation is almost entirely closed-circle. This is one of those bottles whose existence in retail is an exception, not a norm.

A reference Aligoté for those who want to understand what the variety can do at the top of its game.